High stakes and glimmering lights quietly gave way to a couple of hours of pure philanthropy and delectable hors d’oeuvres and desserts in the Radisson Hotel’s Waterford Ballroom for the annual Upper Merion Township Board of Community Assistance (BCA) awards reception.

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Mike Bowman, president and CEO of Valley Forge Casino Resort, can normally take comfort in the glittering First Avenue hot spot’s ongoing profitability, but on Thursday he was all smiles about giving money away.

“From a firehouse to Meals on Wheels to scholarships, we’re happy to help so many causes in our own backyard,” Bowman said prior to the ceremony. “When the casino first opened we made an agreement with the township and our commitment from day one has been to do everything possible for the community.”

More than $150,000 was doled out to 26 community organizations and 28 local students through the Upper Merion Township Board of Community Assistance program, which was established, as its mission statement affirms, to review the township’s need-based community issues while providing greater public participation and input into local government.

The board is made up of two members selected by Valley Forge Casino Resort and three regular folks (“township citizens”) chosen by the township’s board of supervisors.

As a BCA member, Bowman helps decide which of the many organizations who apply will receive funding, he said.

“We were getting several inquiries from charities when the casino opened, and we felt this would be the fairest way to do it. We set the criteria for the township for people to apply and we’re very committed to it.”

The base amount of grant money was set at $140,000 annually and increases yearly due to inflation, Bowman explained.

The number of organizations and students applying for funding doubled this year over 2013, the BCA’s first year of existence, noted Greg Waks, chairman of the Upper Merion Board of Supervisors.

“The BCA makes the recommendations to the board of supervisors, who then vote to accept them,” he said. “We had 95 applications, and it works out that about half of the organizations received awards. There’s a lot of competition. Not everybody got what they were asking for. It’s a tough decision to make. How do you (support) one organization and say no to an equally worthy organization? There are some organizations who received funding last year but this year did not.”

Nancy Brown, president of Neighborhood Meals on Wheels, which serves Bridgeport, King of Prussia and West Conshohocken, said she was immensely pleased that her organization was a two-time recipient.

The $2,500 of casino money would go a long way in filling a gap, she said.

“It helped us meet our budget. We’re independent and have no funding from the county or the state. It’s only what the patrons pay us, and there’s a gap. We asked the township in years past and they always said they didn’t have the money. Last year they finally came through.”